The Influence of Standard and Substandard Dutch on Gender Assignment in Second Language German

Bibliographic Data

ID4501767
AuthorsJan Vanhove (0000-0002-4607-4836, University of Fribourg, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume67
Issue2
Pages431-460
Publication date2017-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage Learning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0023-8333 • E-ISSN: 1467-9922
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/lang.12230
OpenAlexW2588019059
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited27

This study investigated how standard and substandard varieties of first language (L1) Dutch affect grammatical gender assignments to nouns in second language (L2) German. While German distinguishes between masculine, feminine, and neuter gender, the masculine-feminine distinction has nearly disappeared in Standard Dutch. Many substandard Belgian Dutch varieties, however, still mark this distinction, making them more akin to German than Standard Dutch in this respect. Seventy-one Belgian and 104 Netherlandic speakers of Dutch with varying levels of German proficiency assigned gender-marked German articles to German nouns with Dutch cognates; these gender assignments were then compared to the cognates' gender in the standard and substandard L1 varieties. While the gender assignments of both Belgian and Dutch participants were strongly influenced by the cognates' Standard Dutch gender, the Belgians' responses showed, at best, weak traces of the masculine-feminine distinction in substandard Belgian Dutch. Possible reasons for this weak substandard variety influence are discussed.Open PracticesThis article has been awarded Open Data, Open Materials, and Preregistered Research Design badges. All data, R code, materials, and appendices, along with preregistration for research design and analyses, are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework athttps://osf.io/5ahzj. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science:https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki

Affect (linguistics) · Code (set theory) · German · Grammatical Gender · Linguistics · Noun · Set (abstract data type) · Standard language · Variety (cybernetics) · Artificial Intelligence · Communication · Computer Science · Gender Studies in Language · Linguistic research and analysis · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Psychology · Social Psychology